This is Med Talk presented by HCA Midwest Health. I'm Jamie Monticelli with Dr. Hilary Nash, College Park Family Care and Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Each year from fall to late spring, millions of people are affected by the flu, a contagious respiratory illness. It can be mild to severe with serious cases often resulting in hospitalization or even death, and we're going to talk more about the 2019-2020 flu season today. First, Dr. Nash, it's alarming that last flu season, so many kids died of the flu. In fact, I read that more than 100 died during last season's flu season. What is causing the trend? You're right, Jamie. The flu can be absolutely devastating, especially when you consider that many of these cases were avoidable. In fact, the CDC reports that over 80% of these deaths occurred in children who had not received a flu vaccination this last year. It's important for parents to understand that even if the flu vaccine doesn't prevent your child from getting the flu, it can significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from the flu. The infection is usually much milder in vaccinated kids. I know last year's flu shot was not as effective as the CDC thought it would be. Is this year's vaccine going to be more effective? Hopefully, yes. One of the most important things though about the flu that we have learned through experience is that it is generally unpredictable, and that's frustrating, but it's simply the nature of the virus. It's always changing. This year was somewhat unique in that the World Health Organization delayed its recommendation of which strains to put into the vaccine, and this was due to a number of factors, but this delay allowed for more time from monitoring virus circulation and for characterization of the appropriate vaccine viruses. Hopefully, this is going to translate into better efficacy. So who should get vaccinated? Always a big question we get. Yeah. The flu shot is recommended for anyone who has at least six months old and older, and especially those high risk groups. These are people like infants, adults age 65 and older, pregnant women, people who have certain chronic conditions that put them at higher risk for flu related complications, things like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, asthma. I also think it's important all of those people out there with egg allergies, this is no longer considered a contraindication for the flu shot based on studies that show that the vaccine is safe in these patients. Really the only people who shouldn't get the flu shot are infants under six months of age, and then those who have experienced a serious allergic reaction to a previous flu vaccine. Now, there is an intra-nasal live flu vaccine, and there's a little bit different contraindications to those, so you should always talk to your doctor about that. We often hear about a lot of confusion between the flu and a GI bug. What exactly are the signs and symptoms of the flu? Yeah, this is a common misconception. Influenza is as a specific virus with a number of subtypes, but it is only one of many causes of infection in the fall and in the winter. Flu symptoms could be mild in some cases, especially in vaccinated individuals, but the classic influenza picture is rapid and severe, like you just got hit by a mack truck. Most people are going to have a fever with severe muscle aches, congestion, headache, extreme fatigue and cough, but influenza is primarily respiratory. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can occasionally occur and is a little bit more common in children. In addition to getting vaccinated, what are some other preventive measures? It's important to boost your immune system as we head into the fall. I just can't stress this enough. Practicing frequent hand washing is important. Much of the germs that we encounter are due to things that we touch and then ingest. Cover your mouth when you cough with your arm or your sleeve, and we need to teach our kids to do this too. Like almost all illnesses, smoking increases your risk, so don't smoke. Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sleep. We know that sleep deprivation will compromise a healthy immune system. Also, making sure that if you are sick or if your kids are sick, stay home until they're fever free for 24 hours and encourage your coworkers to do the same. Finally, when should you see your doctor? See your doctor as soon as symptoms of a fever and muscle aches and cough start. If we can start that antiviral treatment, we can limit the duration and severity of the flu, but it has to be started within 48 hours of onset. Jamie, just in my line of work, I hear all kinds of excuses why people don't want to get the flu shot. They think it doesn't work or it gives them the flu or they've never had the flu before, so they don't want to change what they're doing now. So to close, I just wanted to give you kind of an analogy that I share with my patients. I would hope that most of us would agree on the importance of wearing our seatbelt, and also making sure that our children are safely buckled in before we take off down the road. Are we going to get in a car accident today? Probably not. If you do get in a car accident, is it going to take your life or the life of your child? Thankfully, probably not. However, we still put our seatbelt on because we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to prevent the unthinkable. The flu shot is the best seatbelt that we have to protect ourselves and our loved ones against a virus that could literally take your life. This has been Med Talk presented by HCA Midwest Health. I'm Jamie Monticelli.